A variety of mechanical interfaces, such as clutches, couplings, differential mechanisms and/or the like are known. In the context of automotive vehicles, such as, e.g., motorcycles, automobiles, trucks, busses and the like, mechanical interfaces are often employed within drive trains or the like, such as, e.g., in the transmission of power from an engine to one or more vehicle drive wheels. By way of example, some mechanical interfaces, known as differential gear interfaces, are employed within vehicles so as to provide a balanced power distribution during operation of a vehicle. In this regard, during vehicle turning, gears may be enabled by such differential gear interfaces to rotate relative to one another (i.e., differentially), allowing higher rotational speeds of outer drive wheels.
By way of example, in some existing vehicles, clutch members include teeth that are moved into and out of engagement during operation of the clutch. In this regard, FIG. 1 shows an illustrative clutch element 100A having clutch recesses 110 that operate in conjunction with another clutch element (not shown) having corresponding clutch teeth (not shown) that engage within the clutch recesses 110.
While a variety of interfaces and clutch designs are known, existing interfaces and clutch designs have notable limitations. For example, in some vehicle applications, such as in certain environments involving large commercial vehicles, including trucks and other commercial vehicles, previous designs were incapable of sufficiently handling stresses imparted to a clutch set in a limited space that was available for the clutch set.
In an effort to establish desirable clutch structures for vehicles, some existing clutches have employed a splined clutch set. However, such splined clutch sets have a number of disadvantages. For example, such splined clutch sets typically rely on having a long engagement depth and typically require that the splines be machined into the clutch parts. Among other disadvantages, these requirements have typically limited that technology to applications with larger working areas.
In addition, a variety of other systems and devices are also known. By way of example, additional background documents include:                a) U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,209, which shows an “electrically actuated locking differential” of the “type in which the differential gearing may be locked in response to an electrical input signal;”        b) U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,971, which shows “a locking differential” “for selectably locking a first axle to a second axle;” and        c) U.S. Pat. No. 1,579,728, which shows a “synchronizer” for “use in situations where . . . clutches or gears are moved relative to each other along the same axis of rotation.”        
Although a variety of systems and methods are known, there is a continued need to improve these and other existing systems and/or to overcome limitations therein. As set forth below, the preferred embodiments of the present invention provide notable advancements over the systems and methods described in the above-noted documents as well as other existing systems and devices.